If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: hypothetical mustn't

Am I right to understand that if I speak about the present/future I say:

"If you wanted to be successful in what you are doing(in the future), you shouldn't be/mustn't be lazy."

Change "wanted" to "want." You are speaking about the future, so you wouldn't use the past tense.

and if I speak about the past I am to say:

"If you had wanted to be successful in what you were doing(in the past), you shouldn't have been lazy. "This is fine, although--as Mr. Bhaisahab points out--the "had" is optional. I do feel it changes the meaning a little, in that it emphasizes the fact that it all happened in the past. I think it might be changing the meaning in another way, as well, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

I hope I get it right this way, otherwise, I am really hopeless...

Please don't be hopeless! These are very challenging sentences. And English is really not such a difficult language. Joseph Conrad was one of the masters of the language, and he only spoke Polish until age 18.